Boko Haram Attack in Niger Forces Thousands to Flee Their Homes

On Friday, Sunday, and Monday, thousands of Nigeriens in the Southeastern town of Bosso were awakened to the sound of a Boko Haram attack. The Boko Haram insurgency reportedly looted stores and burned houses in the border town before being pushed back into Nigeria by the Nigerien (Niger) military. It is reported that the attacks killed 32 soldiers: 30 from Niger and two from Nigeria. On the other side, the coalition of Nigerian (Nigeria) and Nigerien (Niger) forces killed 55 Boko Haram insurgents before finally securing Bosso. But the attack seems to have had lasting effects on the local population; approximately 50,000 of the town’s roughly 52,000 residents have fled to the nearby town of Toumour.

Conflict is not new to Southeastern Niger. Since February 2015, when Boko Haram launched a raid on Bosso and nearby Diffa, the jihadist organization has repeatedly attacked the region. In November 2015, Boko Haram militants razed approximately 50 homes in a village in southeastern Niger, killing four people. In March, a Boko Haram ambush killed six Nigerien soldiers in Diffa; these are just a few of the many terror campaigns that Boko Haram has carried out in Niger. Boko Haram’s attacks in the region have displaced approximately 240,000 people. In response, Niger has joined Nigeria, Cameroon, and Chad in creating a special task force dedicated to fighting Boko Haram; the U.S has pledged five million dollars to help get it established.

Since the conflict began, Boko Haram’s insurgency has destroyed existing infrastructure in Northern Nigeria. During this time, 2.1 million Nigerian residents have had to flee their homes according to the UN Refugee Agency. The unrest has killed approximately 20,000 people during which time 2.6 million people have become homeless. In April of 2014, their kidnapping of over 300 girls from a school in rural Nigeria sparked outrage and led to protests around the world.

In March 2016, Boko Haram pledged allegiance to the Islamic State, declaring themselves an African branch of the self-proclaimed caliphate. They aim to conquer the North of Nigeria and instill sharia law. On a larger scale, Boko Haram seeks to destabilize numerous West African governments including Chad, Cameroon, and Niger.

Perhaps the biggest impact of Boko Haram’s allying with the Islamic State is their expanded focus. As previously stated, Boko Haram officially pledged allegiance to the Islamic State in March of 2015. In the preceding month, the jihadist group orchestrated their first attacks in Niger and Chad; two months prior to that, Boko Haram launched a failed offensive into Cameroon. Despite Boko Haram having been founded in 2002, they only began carrying out attacks outside of Nigeria in late 2014. Their new identity as the West African branch of the Islamic State has prompted the jihadist group to adopt a more outward focus, seeing it as their responsibility to dominate all of West Africa in addition to northern Nigeria. This new focus marks a greater threat to the region, as Boko Haram is aiming to destabilize multiple governments. If the organization is to be defeated, the governments will need to continue to cooperate in intelligence gathering and military operations.